Adapted and performed by: The Pantaloons
Based on the novel by: Jane Austen
Reviewer: Lela Tredwell
Travelling theatre company The Pantaloons give Jane Austen’s novel Emma the “Shakespeare in the park” treatment in the leafy surroundings of the Brighton Open Air Theatre. With only four players, a guitar, a drum and many dextrous costume changes they bring the story of the eponymous aspiring Regency-era matchmaker to life, with many a cheeky wink to the audience who often find themselves involved in the story. It’s jolly and light, poking fun at the world of Austen whilst celebrating the language and humour of the original novel.
Being notoriously full of characters who breeze in and out of the action, a Jane Austen novel is an ambitious choice for a four-person adaptation, but this production makes that limitation just another aspect of the comedy. The actors take turns telling the story in between playing parts, very helpfully introducing each character as they appear, meaning the story is always easy to follow and giving the opportunity for a liberal sprinkling of ad-libbing and meta-commentary.
The actors skilfully differentiate the roles with the help of props and costume changes – Mr. Elton has a big hat, frivolous gait and a silly voice, whilst Mr. Knightley, played by the same actor, is bare of head and much more reserved and dignified, for instance. It’s very much in the classic Shakespearean role-swapping tradition, as is the cross-dressing that brings about probably the funniest performance of the night in Mrs. Elton, who arrives as Mr. Elton’s nouveau riche new wife (much to the chagrin of Emma, who had her friend Harriet Smith in mind for this position). The grating Mrs. Elton at one point goes on a crazed rant about strawberries that is unhinged and hilarious, all the more so because it’s a gangly man dressed in a bonnet, and it’s a great example of how the troupe illuminate Austen’s much lauded society-based humour.
Humour is also derived from sallies by the actors into the crowds in the kind of breaking of the fourth wall that makes these intimate theatre experiences feel so alive. It’s where both the improv and natural comedic skills of the actors are put to the test. The Pantaloons lay a fair amount of emphasis tonight on these sections. Towards the beginning, Emma, cleverly demonstrating the character’s habit of “doing just what she liked”, prances through the audience, making comments on the quality of the picnics and comparing Brighton to her hometown of Highbury. Later, they let audience members play minor roles and perhaps take it too far by getting someone up to play a rather pointless card game in the party scene.
It can feel at times like more attention could have been paid to the meat of the story, as if they are “presenting” the story, rather than inhabiting and expanding it. Indeed, there are elements of the Jane Austen literary complex that the production roundly mocks, like the histrionics of the “Regency cold” and the lame “Regency wit” as epitomised by Mr. Elton in his riddle about Emma. Their irreverence to the text and general atmosphere of the Austen world might ruffle the feathers of a devoted Austen stan; and at times, The Pantaloons’ own attempts at humour are very much in the realm of the dad joke, so it might feel like throwing stones in glass houses if it weren’t all in the name of a fun night out.
For a romantic comedy, the romance is rather light on the ground, but there are some tender moments. There’s real theatrical frisson as Emma and Mr. Knightley share the third-person narration of their tentative early steps towards love, for instance. And in later scenes between them it feels like we’re in the realm of real serious acting. But that scarcity of romance is kind of the point of the story: that she’s just playing frivolous, matchmaking games of love for most of it, then finally opens herself up to something real.
The Pantaloons have struck upon a fantastic vehicle for silliness in Emma. The characters are drawn in broad farcical strokes and the language is high and haughty but always comprehensible. Open air performance is a real skill, requiring projection in both volume and expression, and all four of these players are true pros throughout.
Runs until 29th June 2023
